Girl of Myth and Legend (43 page)

‘First of all,’ she says, ‘what happened to my… to the rebels that attacked you?’

‘They killed many Magen and soldiers,’ I reply.

‘They killed Magen?’

‘You look surprised.’

It takes her a moment to compose herself. ‘What happened after that?’

‘I don’t know how, but they managed to unleash a maiden, control it even, for a time.’

‘And did you see who was controlling it?’

‘No.’

She looks worried. ‘Tell me, what was their objective, the attackers?’

‘Why ask me? You should know. You’re part of their group.’

She leans towards me, the light catching the glint in her eyes. ‘I would strongly suggest answering the question, kytaen.’

I stare at her for moment. Her gaze is unyielding, and I can see I’m not going to get away with being defiant. ‘Their objective was to get my keeper, to cut her strings, whatever that means. They also wanted to find a relic, one I’ve never seen before. It was an urn, but I never found out what it did.’

She sniggers. ‘I’m well aware of what it does and what it is.’

‘And, what is it?’

‘Something dark and ancient. Something that should never be allowed to bask in the light of the sun or breathe in the air.’

‘Something bad then,’ I say.

‘The relic,’ begins Cardvall, ‘they don’t have it, do they?’

‘They do,’ I reply.

Cardvall mutters a swear.

‘Did the Pulsar open it?’ asks Jupiter, looking just as alarmed as him.

‘No,’ I say. ‘It’s lost now. When the maiden destroys itself, it’ll take that thing to oblivion with it.’

‘Somehow, I doubt that very much.’

‘What is the relic for?’ I ask.

She looks at me. ‘People seek chaos, kytaen, sometimes without even realising it. Chaos is the natural order of the universe.’

‘That’s what you’re trying to do? Give the world chaos?’

‘Who said I wanted that? I’m only telling you what that relic holds within it. Now, answer me this: why did the rebels send you to the cursed land? I don’t understand why they would want you there. I’d have thought they’d want to send you closer to Starfall. We were prepared for that.’

‘I don’t know what happened,’ I reply. ‘One of the rebels said they were trying to locate the ‘outpost’, but apart from that I can only guess they didn’t find the destination in time.’

She nods her head. ‘It would have been Demetri. He’s very young.’

I’m not sure if she’s playing some sort of game with me, but she’s making it sound as if the rebels that attacked us aren’t part of her group, or at least, not until recently. So if she’s not with the ones who attacked us…

‘I’m guessing from what you’ve said that you haven’t captured my keeper,’ I say.

‘No, and believe me when I say it would’ve been better for her if we had,’ Jupiter says.

‘Why? Why do you want her?’

‘Why would I want the Pulsar?’ she says, with a mocking smile. ‘Why would a
rebel
want a Pulsar? You ask a strange question, kytaen.’

I look to the inmate opposite me, who is silent, staring at me intently, maddeningly, and I fiddle with my bound hands. ‘What do you want with me?’

‘Oh, I don’t know yet,’ says Jupiter, a smile creeping onto her lips. ‘Maybe a lot, if you’re willing.’

‘It seems I haven’t much of a choice,’ I say, looking around the cell.

‘That’s not entirely true. I’ll give you a choice, like I do every other kytaen.’

I raise an eyebrow.
Other
kytaen? ‘A choice over what?’

‘Life and death of course. I don’t intend to keep a kytaen prisoner; it wastes resources. When I give you the choice, you’ll decide your fate. The question is, how willing are you to die?’

‘Not very,’ I say.

She smiles. ‘Did you like the present I gave you, by the way?’

‘Present?’

She gestures to my wrist, and I only just notice there’s a thick metal bracelet around it.

‘What is this?’ I say.

‘A precaution,’ she says. ‘It stops you from changing to your kytaen form.’

So I test it. I try to transform, something that comes to me as naturally as breathing, but there’s something blocking me, something unmovable.

I look up at Jupiter and meet her gaze. She’s still smiling.

‘Oh, I should remind you that if you attempt an escape,’ she says, ‘you
will
die. If there is a possibility, as slim as it is, that you escape from your cell, our guards will slaughter you.’

The inmate begins to spasm, writhing and rattling her chains. She screams and cries and curses, and Jupiter looks at her with what I can only discern as pity.

‘I’ll send Nanaf,’ she says to Cardvall. ‘New company’s troubled her.’

‘It would be kinder to kill her,’ he says.

‘But we’ll not deliver that kindness.’ With that, they leave us in the half-light.

Rebels. The last few days have given me cause to know they exist, but I didn’t know they were
thriving
. There were so many, and probably many more. I’m not sure what they want, though I can take a guess: rebels are against the Imperium, and my keeper is the embodiment of the Imperium. With her, the rebels could make any demands. With her, they can bring the Imperium to a stop. With the Pulsar in a rebellion’s hands, they could do almost anything. But what that might be, I don’t know.

I have no idea where I am or if my keeper is alive, but right now, all I can contemplate is whether I will survive the night.

LEONIE

WHAT IS YOUR PURPOSE?

Damn it, Korren,
I think as I run up the mountain. My lips are parched, I can hardly breathe, but I keep running. I want to turn back and face our enemies together, but if our enemies really were the rebels, then no doubt I’d soon be eyeing Death’s scythe with a lump in my throat. Then what of Korren? Isn’t he facing that very image right now? Have I once again abandoned someone to die?
He chose this,
I think to myself.
He told me to run. He insisted.
I didn’t have to run. I could have stayed by his side. The truth of my cowardice hits me: I was afraid of dying and dismissed the thought of Korren dying for me.

I slow, despite knowing I may be being followed. I have to go back. I can’t leave him to face our enemies alone. He said his purpose was to protect me, and maybe he really does believe that.

I do not. His purpose shouldn’t be to keep me alive—I firmly believe that. You can’t be told your reason for existing, you have to find it yourself, and you have to live a full life to realise what it is. Korren, he may have lived for thousands of years, but those years were lived in servitude; he’s never had a chance to live. And I’ve left him to die with an obstinate, consuming belief in his heart that his only purpose is to serve.
You have a purpose, Korren,
I think,
but that is not it.

I turn. I’m being reckless, sentimental, and utterly, incom-prehensibly foolish. I can’t let him die for me, though. I just can’t. I run towards where I left him, the steep decline of the mountain slowing me. I might be too late. Still…
still
, I have to go back; I have to confront these rebels who want me, not him.

I don’t find them. I’m not exactly sure where we were when we were ambushed; I took so many turns and twists to get up the mountain, and I don’t remember this view. I think about calling for Korren to get someone’s attention, though I figure that would be kind of dumb.
As dumb as what you’re doing now?
I ask myself.

I round a corner and—

Someone tackles me, slamming their whole body into mine and sending me crashing onto the ground and almost over the edge of the mountain. I feel like a steel-jaw trap has snapped on my arm, but I ignore it—I have to, if I want to survive. I scramble onto my feet and begin to run, when arms wrap around my legs and bring me down again.

‘Leonie, stop!
Stop
!’

That voice.

I turn, and Sersu—
Sersu
—is looking back at me. Her blonde hair is tousled and she’s covered in ash and blood. I notice a glimmer of silver; the relic I gave her stands beside her.

There’s three things I have to comprehend, and fast: one is that she is not dead, that I did not kill her; two is that whatever that relic is, nothing good will come out of it; and the third is that if I don’t get away from Sersu, the rebels that captured or killed Korren will find me and do… I don’t even know what to me. I wanted to face the rebels, but my instinct to run is stronger.

I try to stand, but her grip is tight, a soldier’s grip.

‘Listen to me!’ she begs. ‘I won’t hurt you—I never wanted to hurt you! Please, you have to listen to me!’

I don’t reply, just concentrate on escaping her grip.

‘All I wanted was to help you achieve your potential!’ she shouts. ‘You have to believe me. I never wanted you to get hurt. I didn’t want any of this, I swear.’

‘Get off me!’ I shout.

‘I can save Korren. I can save him.’

‘Let me go!’

‘I know how important he is to you, and despite what you may think, I care about what’s important to you, Leonie.’

I stop struggling and turn my head towards her, my hair falling in front of my face in tangles.

‘I can save him’, she says, ‘if that’s what you want.’

I search her eyes for any dishonesty. I should find it, after all that she’s done, but all I see is a desperate truth. She would save him if I asked.

‘Your people took him,’ I say. ‘He might already be dead.’ I can barely say the last word.

‘He’s not. He won’t be. They’ll take him back to the outpost and hold him there. It’s you they want, not him, and he’s perfect bait.’

‘That’s a lie. They won’t keep him alive for that. No keeper would sacrifice themselves for a kytaen.’

‘You’re not like any other keeper I’ve met before. I’ve seen you two together, and more than anything I see you treat him as a friend. You look at him as an equal. Him… he looks at you with hope, and even more than that. I know that whatever bond you share with each other, it’s something real and powerful.’

‘…But they don’t know that.’

She grabs my shoulders. ‘But they will if I tell them. I can go to them right now and tell them everything about you.’

‘How are you even here?’ I ask.

‘A few of us survived, Leonie. Demetri, you know, the one who changed the destination of the portal? Well, he brought me to the place he sent you.’

I push her away. ‘There are more of you nutters?’ I shout, and look around. ‘Where are they? Where are they?’

‘It’s OK, it’s OK!’ she says, putting her hands on my shoulders again. ‘It’s all right. I went looking for you on my own. The others are waiting for me, up higher on the mountain.’

‘How the hell can I trust you?’

She can’t answer that one.

‘My dad’s dead because of you, because of what your people did.’

Again, she says nothing in response.

I try to think of reasons to trust her, and can’t find even one. She may look truthful, she may sound truthful, but she spoke to me like a friend once before, and look how that turned out. I have no reason to trust her, and I’d be stupid to.

But if I don’t, Korren will die.

‘Save him,’ I whisper.

‘What?’

‘Save him,’ I say louder. ‘Save Korren. Save him!’

She nods her head. ‘I will. But first, you need to do something for me.’

‘What?’

Her stare is piercing. ‘You have to open the urn.’

‘Open the…?’ I look to the urn in her hands. ‘Like hell I will! I don’t know what that thing is.’

‘It’s salvation, Leonie. It is freedom from the chains the Imperium have bound us to.’

‘That isn’t much of an answer.’

‘If you do it, I promise I’ll save Korren. I promise the rebels won’t hurt him, but only if you open up the urn. Only you can do it, only a Pulsar’s magic. We couldn’t let you do it in the haze—we were losing control—but now you can. Now you can free us.’

I open my mouth but no words come out. I want to say no, because, of course, that’s the logical thing to do. I have no idea what that urn is, what it holds or what it can do. So no, I won’t open it, and Korren will probably die.

Korren.

Damn it, Korren.

‘Fine,’ I say. ‘Fine.’ I open my hands out. ‘I’ll do it.’

Sersu breathes a sigh of relief and smiles. ‘That a girl.’

God, I want to slap her.

She hands me the urn. It feels cold and so very light, but there’s a heaviness to it, too. Not a physical heaviness, but a mystical one, and I’m aware that whatever I’m holding, whatever power lies dormant within this urn, it’s otherworldly, even for Duwyn. I glance at Sersu and then back to the relic. I feel like I’m opening Pandora’s Box, but I have no choice. Once again, all my choices have been stripped from me, and it’s either let Korren die so I don’t have to open this stupid thing, or open it so he has a chance.

‘You’d better keep your word, Sersu. I may not have any power yet, but I
will
—remember that.’

‘I know. I won’t let him die.’

It takes me a few moments to find the courage to place my hand on the lid of the urn. I only now notice that there are scratches on top of it, as if someone has struggled to keep the lid on.
That’s encouraging,
I think.